By REYNALD MAGALLON
TNT might not only left Game 2 of the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup Final with a broken wall inside its dugout at the Mall of Asia Arena but also possibly some cracks to its team.
And at the center of that was the temperamental Poy Erram.
To be fair, it wasn’t really certain who among the Tropang Giga vented his frustration on the helpless wall but a sequence that saw the TNT big man retreat to the dugout, kick a TNT cart and water jug, suggested that the highly physical and competitive game is getting the better of Erram.
His perceived wrong calls from the officials as well as the repeated jeers and taunting from the Ginebra faithful, to which Erram responded by just further egging them on, might also be getting into his head.
Hence, another scene of throwing tantrums for the TNT big man. And the first instance not too long ago wasn’t pretty as well.
Erram got into a heated exchange with teammate Glenn Khobuntin who was just trying to restrain him from further complaining after he was assessed with a technical foul in one of their games against Rain or Shine in the semifinals.
Khobuntin simply shrugged off what he called just a friendly fire while head coach Tim Cone played down the incident simply saying that was the nature of the team’s culture and only a matter of expressing their passion.
“It was just in the heat of the passion,” said Reyes a few weeks ago referring to that exchange between Erram and Khobuntin.
“Ganun yung team namin, laging may nag-a-away, hindi lang sila. Sa amin, it’s just a matter of passion,” he added.
Erram, after coming out of the TNT dugout though, was still fielded and was even part of the huge fourth quarter fightback from the Tropa before Justin Brownlee weaved his magic for the team.
As to how these would play a factor in the crucial Game 3 remained to be seen. The only thing certain though is that TNT cannot afford another Erram meltdown especially against a quality team like the Kings.
